Kathleen Turner From Femme Fatale to Catholic Matriarch

Kathleen Turner a veteran of theater, film and television and she is undoubtedly one of the greats.  In her debut film, “Body Heat,” she captivated audiences with her sultry voice and intense sexuality. She followed that up with unforgettable films like “Romancing the Stone” and “Prizzi’s Honor,” and later “Peggy Sue Got Married,” “The War of the Roses,” and the voice of Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” On stage she’s been critically praised for outstanding performances in so many classics on Broadway and around the world.  Recently she stopped by the SiriusXM studios to talk with Ron Bennington about her newest film, “The Perfect Family.”  Below are excerpts from that interview.

Ron Bennington: You have a brand new film called “The Perfect Family”. You are the matriarch of a Catholic family and what a disaster. What an absolute disaster you are as a mom.

Kathleen Turner: (laughs) Well no. She’s a very sweet woman. Her name is Eileen Cleary. And she is a devout Catholic who’s extremely active in her parish with good works. And she’s informed that she has been nominated to win the Catholic woman of the year award. Which carries with it, the Prayer of Absolution. Which is really important to her because she has an unconfessed sin in her past. Problem is that part of the assessment for winning the award is of course an examination of her family which should be a good Catholic family. Her husband played by Michael McGrady is a recovering alcoholic with a past history of infidelity. Her son who is Jason Ritter, who is an absolute cute, I mean Heavens to Betsy, anyway has left his wife and 2 kids and is having an affair with a manicurist. And her daughter played by the glorious Emily Deschanel is a lesbian, is getting married and is 5 months pregnant. Not your ideal Catholic family.

Ron Bennington: Right. And yet closer to what we think of in America as a Catholic family.

Kathleen Turner: Yeah. Catholic with a small “c”. Yes. Absolutely. No, I think obviously there is no such thing I’m sure as the perfect family. What does come through strongly I think in this film is the love in the family. And that matters to me.

Ron Bennington: Now you would think that it was conditional love, but underneath of it I think there’s unconditional love.

Kathleen Turner: I think there’s unconditional love and I think there’s compassion. I think that it works both ways, that the family shows up for her as well.

Ron Bennington: Right. Because we don’t pick our families. That’s the thing about families.

Kathleen Turner: We do not pick our families.

Ron Bennington: And yet we don’t have probably a stronger connection. And I think you realize that more in your adult life where you start to look back and go, well wait a minute.

Kathleen Turner: Yeah. No, I think that, I mean certainly in my own life, I’ve got 2 brothers and a sister. We are spread across the world. But I’m quite sure that if one of them called and said get here now, I’d be on the next plane.

Ron Bennington: And that is basically what this film is about. And I think the great thing about it too, it’s a small film by the way of saying it’s about human beings doing things that human beings do.

Kathleen Turner: This is one of the things that’s happening now that is so exciting in our time, is that technology has advanced to such an extent that we can put out an unquestionably qualified film. We shot this in 19 days. Our budget would be laughable by any studio standard. But to me, I think the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on filmmaking is shocking and sinful frankly and unnecessary. In any case, now we can make high quality film, given the new cameras and new technology and the willingness. And now we have a way to more and more to get it out through the festivals, through cable, so now the product can be seen as opposed to the real stranglehold that the studio system used to have.

Ron Bennington: And there’s actually people particularly adults that love to watch these kind of films, who want to watch something like this.

Kathleen Turner: Very much so. One other thing is that “Hollywood”, in quotations, relies on is the information that shows that the major ticket buyers are young people, say primarily male between the ages of 15 and 29, say. So obviously they and gear the content of films to attract those people who would buy those tickets. What we can do now with independent filmmaking and the whole industry that’s truly gaining strength is present such a universality of stories and situations that’s well worth it. It’s thrilling I think right now.

Ron Bennington: Yeah and a studio might have never made this film no matter what because they were like, well maybe she could be more likeable or we could give away a little more that she’s a good person. Like you give the audience in this film a chance to judge her at the beginning and then judge as the film goes along. And I think you’re attitude changes with it.

Kathleen Turner: Well I think the only characters that interest me in terms of performing is to explore a path, a growth. If a character is the same at the end of the film as she is at the beginning, don’t ask me to come do this. But if I can see that the character does change, be it for good or ill, be it for right or wrong, it’s the change and the examination of the change that interests me.

Ron Bennington: Yeah and at the same time I think that the audience should change over the course of film. Not just sit there and clap when they see shiny things and “Oh look. That was great. Now I forgot it.” (Kathleen Turner laughs) You’ve done so many films that are fantastic, but I don’t think there’s ever been anyone, and I can’t think of another person who came in with a film like you did, that was completely unknown.

Kathleen Turner: No, that was extraordinary.

Ron Bennington: And then “Body Heat” about what? Halfway through it, we decide this person’s a real movie star. I don’t know if there’s been anybody else who’s had that kind of entrance in the business.

Kathleen Turner: I don’t know. It was thrilling. And extraordinary, yeah. I mean you say what a debut and it was my first time on film. I had been on TV cameras with a soap opera that I’d done when I first got to New York, but other than that, all I had, all my training was theater. So I had to learn on the job very much, shooting “Body Heat”. But I was lucky because it was Larry Kasdan’s first film, directing and so he was always saying “You know why this shot? Why this lens? Why this light? Why this?” So I was just like a limpet trying to soak up the knowledge that he was getting at the same time.

Ron Bennington: Did you guys know that this was going to be a classic? Did it start feeling that way?

Kathleen Turner: I didn’t. I didn’t. I thought we were being rebels. I thought that Bill Hurt and Larry Kasdan and I were like against the system. I guess part of me has always felt that way. (laughs) But in any case, yeah I thought the 3 of us were going to break new ground and take huge risks and we did.

Ron Bennington: But you still have a great time with all this stuff.

Kathleen Turner: I have a great time. I do. I love…I’m so lucky. I mean I’m blessed. I love my job. It’s what I always wanted. And I have the ability to do it. And to me, I think theater is always ultimately the most satisfying. To me. To be with people, doing it, to have people..the magic. And this can happen in cinema as well. You have people sitting next to each other closer than they do in their own homes, unknown background and belief and race and religion and you trust. There’s this implicit trust when you sit down with these strangers and you start to share an experience and soon you start to breathe together and laugh at the same time. Can I tell you a story about once when I, well this is going to give away some of my inner workings, but here you go. I was doing “Camille” up at Long Wharf where I’m going to be going again this fall. In any case, and you know she dies. I mean everyone knows she dies. Right? So how the heck do I make her die in a way that will be moving to people? So she comes out and she’s on her last breaths literally. And she breaths (long gasping noises)…and 10 seconds later you get (big gasping noise), as the whole audience exhales for you. I thought well that’s it, isn’t it? Die on the inhale.

Ron Bennington: So you feel that kind of connection in a theater with an audience?

Kathleen Turner: Oh it’s brilliant.

Ron Bennington: You can’t do that as much in cinema.

Kathleen Turner: You cannot. No. I mean well you can make the crew laugh or cry or something, but no, you don’t know, and ultimately you don’t know what choices the editor and the director and the producers are gonna make in terms of the final film. So you can’t always know. In this one, in “The Perfect Family”, I was really pleased that the work I thought we did in the filming is exactly what ends up in the movie. And that doesn’t happen all the time.

Ron Bennington: Do you stay political? Is that something that’s interested you for a long time?

Kathleen Turner: I am very active in, certainly in organizations, not in parties. I am chairman of the board of Advocates for Planned Parenthood, for many many years.

Ron Bennington: Which has been under attack this year.

Kathleen Turner: Yes. And which we must continue with all our strength and mind to defend. I am on the board of People for the American Way, protection of the first amendment, watchdog of the religious right. I work with Childhelp USA and I work with Citymeals-on-Wheels here in New York. I believe very strongly in giving back to our community.

Ron Bennington: And that is what it’s about first of all, to a community, a very local community.

Kathleen Turner: Very much. And I was in connection with this woman Eileen in “The Perfect Family”. Her willingness, her acceptance to serve, to be of service through the organization of the church, is completely understandable to me and I think very laudable.

Ron Bennington: And somewhat forgotten these days, that people forget that was always the thing of that kind of outreach, of helping the people who were down at the time.

Kathleen Turner: Yeah, that was originally what the church was supposed to be about.

Ron Bennington: Right. “The Perfect Family”, it stars Kathleen Turner. It comes out in select theaters and then On Demand this Friday, May 4th. And you can check it out at theperfectfamilymovie.com. Thank you so much for stopping by.  I’ll see you next time through.

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